Drew Estate Grand Central

I'm glad I went deeper into this tin before I gave a review for Grand Central. At first I was disapointed as it tasted a great deal like 7th Ave. Blonde. Its been my experience with Drew Estate aromatics that after the inital releasing of the seal and the atom bomb explosion of the fragance, they tend to settle down and come into their own. Days after the explosion Grand Central began to distinguish itself from 7th Ave. Blonde and any other of my aromatics.

Grand Central is a decent and handsome tobacco of Bright VA leaf, nice brown burley and cavendish which carries a nice bright fruity fragrance. It arrived at the perfect smoking moisture and takes easy to match. It doesnt leave a film in your bowl but does leave a nice lingering ghost of fruit. The room note fragance is something that livens or perks things up around you. The tobacco does come through along with the sweetness of fruit and coconut. Think the three words here that describes Grand Central is Bright, Fruity and Sweet. You can take this train anywhere you want to perk things up.

I find I really enjoy most of Drew Estate's pipe tobaccos, so perhaps my opinion is biased in that respect, but i find this one to be one of my favorites. It smokes very smooth and lights fairly easily. If you draw on it like a train it will bite you, but if you take your time with it that problem seems to be dampened. You get a taste of what seems to be apricot and perhaps a mild vanilla. Very sweet and enjoyable if you like sweet blends. It's not for everyone, but in my opinion should be tried atleast once.

very good flavor and taste from apricot and coconut. but only for aromatic lovers because the flavor is very strong. good for dessert for dinner.

I am not a huge aromatic smoker. I am a fan of acid cigars, though, and I am in love with meat pie. This one is very mild and I'm having a tough time getting some real flavor out of it. I will give it some time, though, because I will say that this blend has the absolute BEST tin note I have ever smelled. It is like creamy apricots with hints of toasted coconut.

Grand Central by Drew Estate has a nice strong aroma of fruit and coconut to me when I opened the tin. I packed a new cob pipe and let it sit about 20 minutes before the first light. The aroma continued throughout the length of the smoke. This is an enjoyable tobacco for me since I am a fan of Acid cigars. Cost wise the 50g tin was 7.95 at a B&M I like to visit here in NC.

Typically not an aromatic smoker I do like good virginia/burley and for me....this is not it! All I can smell is Shea butter, it's so overwhelming that it distracts me from any flavor this tobac might have. Just cracked the tin today so we will see if it melows out but for this I fear it will not be in rotation.

I think that this blend is everything the aromatic smoker would want in his or her pipe. Tin note, room note and mustache note are all fantastic.

I typically like aros that allow the base tobacco to come through, but this one would be t he exception. You really don't taste the base tobacco on this one, but unlike other aros where the topping fades from existence leaving nothing but hot air afterward, the topping on this one carries through to the end of the bowl.

This was my first go with a drew estate blend, and I am looking forward to trying more as a result. I was given about a six bowl sample and smoked through it all in one day. I had it in briar and cob and the result was fantastic in both.

Four aromatic stars.

You know how you have a bunch of shirts in the closet, but keep reaching for the same few every time? DE-GC has become the one I reach for. It's kind of addictive. I do not find the flavoring in the tin note -- seemingly apricot and caramel -- that strong, as have some reviewers, and the flavoring scent is more pronounced in the tin than the smoke. But the tin note is for me addictive. (Quit smelling the can and light up, already.) I get a strong chocolate note in the smoke with a hint of apricot.

If you puff hard it will bite a little (moisture is about right) and get a bit hot; so don't do that. Makes great, thick smoke, just enjoy it. Also, don't find it ghosting my pipe very much.

Bought this on ebay; seller had a second tin whose seal had been broken but was still pretty fresh, which he threw in, gratis. That's why I chose this blend, actually: two tins. Hog heaven. It tastes good as you smoke it, and the smoke curling around you is delicious. Those around me love the room note; they say even better than MB Golden Extra, which they adore.

For now, this is my fav blend. Yeah, I like it.

I've been pretty happy with the Drew Estate blends I've smoked, so far. The current blend, Grand Central, is a little bit of an exception and it involves the odorant applied to this mixture. When I opened the tin I didn't have to guess if it was an aromatic; it was in my face immediately. I was assailed by a very strong odor of citrusy fruit that completely hid the base tobacco aroma. If you crossed a peach with an orange, you would get something akin to the odor of my tin. To make matters worse, it had been applied way too densely and would be a better presentation at half that strength. Otherwise, Grand Central made a handsome and normal looking ribbon cut mixture with a fairly wide range of colors. Smoking it right away was out of the question and I aired out a sample overnight to smoke the next morning. This proved to not be enough time as the initial smoke was dominated by the added aroma all the way into the bottom third. Additional air out time reduced this effect until, finally, you could smoke the base tobacco to your satisfaction. What we have here, minus the alcoholic fruit/citrus aroma, is a quite descent VaBur that smokes straight forward in a satisfying and familiar way. More annoying than awful, the strong odorant just gets in the way of my smoking enjoyment. I used the aired out version in blending and that went well. So, I'm recommending Grand Central as a solid VaBur smoke at three stars, if you can find it under all that overzealously applied odor.

Upon opening the tin, one is greeted with a beautiful aromatic fragrance...not one drenched with casing, but natural high-end tobacco lightly enhanced.

Normally, when I smoke an aromatic, I am that guy that wants the extra flavor, and don’t find a need with lightly flavored tobaccos. Saying that, I found this one extremely pleasant to smoke. Yes, it is not heavily flavored, but the blend of tobacco is so well done...it was a pleasure.

Burns very well...no tongue bite. Room note is pleasant. My wife enjoys it.

Overall, I would recommend this. It makes me want to revisit Davidoffs Danish Mixture which I completely wrote off years ago because lack of casing.